Meet your Neighbor - Robert West

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Robert West and I am a multimedia production and designer.

What do you love about San Leandro?

I 've lived here almost my whole life, one of the big things I love about San Leandro is the weather.  I'm always telling people, call New York, tell them how nice it is.

How long have you been in San Leandro?

I was born in Oakland and my first 5 years were in Oakland, then we moved to Rochester Minnesota where my Dad did his residency, we were there for a couple of years. I went back to Oakland for first grade at Howard Elementary through 6th. Then we moved to San Leandro.

You went away and served you country and then chose to come back to San Leandro?

I always knew I was coming back to San Leandro,  no matter how far I travelled I considered San Leandro home.

You are very involved with the scouts, how long have you been involved with that?

I have over 15 years of experience, maybe 20, with scouts.  I have been a scout master, a scout leader for at least 12 years, cub scouts, boy scout.  I work at the council, district and troop level as a volunteer.

You are an Artist, you studied in San Francisco?

I have a degree in computer arts new media design from the Academy of Art. 

(You can see Roberts work on Robertbwest.com and on Facebook)

You are also a photographer?

Yes

What is your favorite medium?

Photoshop, I take my photographs and often manipulate them in Photoshop, my favorite files to use in Photoshop are accidental photographs.  Maybe a blurry image I did not intend, I love the randomness of it, it didn't come out right, and I try and make gold out of the random junk.

You have a few of those on Facebook, I love those images. I love the symmetry. Hard to guess where it came from.

Yes, making patterns.  I have another folder called SIDD, that stands for "Same Image Different Day", there are 25 images there and they all came from one image.  It's a way to practice Photoshop, pull the image up, start messing with it. tweaking it, cutting it, pasting it, putting it back together again. (Click here to see)

Parting words of wisdom or a quote?

Live in the moment and work at finding good in everything you see

Thanks Bob, I really appreciate you helping with "This is San Leandro", I feel you have a lot of passion. 

(You can see Roberts work on Robertbwest.com and on Facebook)